Day by Day Cartoon by Chris Muir

Monday, February 28, 2011

As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono.

The manufactured Madison, Wis., mob is not the movement the White House was hoping for. Both may find themselves at the wrong end of the populist pitchfork. While I generally defend collective bargaining and private-sector unions (lots of airline pilots in my family), it is the abuse by public unions and their bosses that pushes centrists like me to the GOP. It is the right and duty of citizens to petition their government. The Tea Party and Republicans seek to limit government growth to protect their pocketbooks. Public-union bosses want to increase the cost of government to protect their racket.

Friday, February 25, 2011

I didn't realize that your birth city and date of birth can enable a good guess at the first five digits of the SSN - so if you give the last four digits, as many websites, particularly banks and credit card companies require, you risk giving them the whole number - and the access to your personal data that implies.

Students from Appleton West High School protest a proposal by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker that would make teachers pay a fraction of their own pension and health-insurance costs. (AP Photo/Sharon Cekada)

(CNSNews.com) - Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.

Private unions negotiate with private businesses to reach an agreement as to wages and benefits. The private business has reason to want to limit both to maximize profits.

Public unions negotiate with the government to reach an agreement in a similar matter - but their actual employers are the people of Wisconsin in this case, who have no say in those negotiations except to elect representatives and a Governor who are expected to act in the best interests of the people of Wisconsin.

The people of Wisconsin have sent a strong message to those representatives in the last election, that they want the current system of public unions being able to make demands of the public to end. The unions, understandably, are not happy with this decision. None the less, the people have spoken.

Perhaps we could resolve the issue of unionized teachers this way. Fire them all, and hire replacements from the thousands of qualified unemployed college graduates in the state. Offer them a five-year contract at 1/2 the current wage of the union teachers they replace. Perform regular performance evaluations. Fire them if students do not learn in their classes, give them raises if they do a good job. This will benefit the people of the state by immediately reducing the costs of education, and relieve much of the current unemployment.

If the replaced teachers want to re-apply as non-union teachers, they could, after one year of unemployment - so that they understand the plight of too many of their neighbors who currently pay for all their benefits.

A public job is a privilege, not a right.++++++++++++++++++Stole part of the solution from BMEWS. We shall see if it gets printed.

946.12 Misconduct in public office. Any public officer or public employee who does any of the following is guilty of a Class I felony:

946.12(1)

(1) Intentionally fails or refuses to perform a known mandatory, nondiscretionary, ministerial duty of the officer’s or employee’s office or employment within the time or in the manner required by law; or

946.12(2)

(2) In the officer’s or employee’s capacity as such officer or employee, does an act which the officer or employee knows is in excess of the officer’s or employee’s lawful authority or which the officer or employee knows the officer or employee is forbidden by law to do in the officer’s or employee’s official capacity; or

946.12(3)

(3) Whether by act of commission or omission, in the officer’s or employee’s capacity as such officer or employee exercises a discretionary power in a manner inconsistent with the duties of the officer’s or employee’s office or employment or the rights of others and with intent to obtain a dishonest advantage for the officer or employee or another; or

946.12(4)

(4) In the officer’s or employee’s capacity as such officer or employee, makes an entry in an account or record book or return, certificate, report or statement which in a material respect the officer or employee intentionally falsifies; or

946.12(5)

(5) Under color of the officer’s or employee’s office or employment, intentionally solicits or accepts for the performance of any service or duty anything of value which the officer or employee knows is greater or less than is fixed by law.

Friday, February 18, 2011

If ever we needed a reminder of why public employees should have never been permitted to unionize, we need only look at the current “sick-outs” by public school teachers.

No one is trying to destroy their union - only require them to pay a larger portion of their salaries towards their health care and retirement programs, but these people are willing to injure our children by calling in “sick” to protest attempts by Governor Walker to bring our state’s finances back under control. The number of TV ads protesting the cuts demonstrates how much money the unions have taken from their members in dues. Perhaps if the teachers were able to keep those dues, the proposed increases wouldn’t hurt them so bad.

Any public employee who calls in “sick” as a protest ought to at least lose that day’s pay, and have a notation made in their personnel record of their dishonesty. Repeated “sick calls” that cannot be backed up with a legitimate excuse ought to be grounds for termination.

The people of Wisconsin are suffering through a depression unparalleled since the 1930s right now. Public employees ought to be very grateful they still have jobs and are being paid. They should not be trying to extort their employers — the people of Wisconsin — via these “sick” calls.

Chuck KueckerBeloit

Got a phone call a few minutes after opening my paper to see I'd been printed - a widowed lady whose husband had been a union carpenter, because to be a carpenter he had to join up. She thanked me for the letter, and said she has to pay the Carpenter's Union for her health insurance out of her husband's union pension. The public unions have it a whole lot better, it seems - bothe health insurance and pension partially paid for by us, their employers.

You are my senator. I did not vote for you, but I expect you to perform the duties of the office that you have been elected to.

Honestly, what kind of a coward runs away from a political debate?

I expected better of you, but actually must express my gratitude to you and all the other Democratic cowards who fled to Illinois rather than face the fact that the people of Wisconsin have decided to stop backing your liberal ideals. Your abdication of your responsibilities has convinced several Republicans who were not decided on this issue to come over to our side, and when your constituents hear of this, I am sure that this will be your last session as a Wisconsin senator.

So, thank you for being a coward. You have done much to help us reform Wisconsin politics!

This morning, I woke early, and came out to do emails and read the news. I found an email from the Rock River Patriots that the Milwaukee AFL-CIO was planning an early morning (6:30) protest at the home of Republican Aseemblyman Evan Wynn, and we should be there to counter them. I got cleaned up and went. Was the first to arrive, actually. The Whitewater police came out to monitor the situation. Whitewater ordinances call protesting in a residential neighborhood "disorderly conduct" and could issue citations to noisy or unruly persons.

Evan greeted me and another patriot who came just after I did. He invited us into his garage to get out of the wind. Since we were now "invited guests", the police said we could not be removed unless there was a disturbance.

By 6:30, almost 30 patriots had assembled, with many homemade signs, and finally about 11 people collected across the street with two small preprinted signs - probably Union-made - stating under a large STOP sign symbol, something about hurting Wisconsin families. They were too far away and the signs were too small to make them out clearly.

There were a total of six or seven police present, including Walworth County and Whitewater. A reporter / photographer from, I believe, the Janesville Gazette came out to take pictures.At 7:30, Mr. Wynn had to leave to get to Madison for another try at passing the union-busting bill, so we all started to leave.

During the whole time, the union people said nothing loud enough for us to hear, and at one point Evan went over to talk to them. Pretty sad protest by Chicago standards!

There was talk of the Demonrat senators who fled to Illinois rather than allow a quorum in the Senate, thereby preventing the bill from being voted on. The news of those cowards running away convinced eight Republican fence-sitters to come over to supporting the bill, so the poly had the opposite effect for the Demonrats. It was also brought up that, under Wisconsin law, it is a felony for a state representative or senator to miss a vote unless incapacitated. I dearly would like to see some charges brought - my local senator, Tim Cullen, is one of those cowards.

I took a picture of the union "thugs" on my phone, but Motorola requires a driver you have to pay for to access the phone, so nothing to post there.

A little girl wrote to Sarah Palin and asked; 'How did the human race start?' Sarah Palin answered, 'God made Adam and Eve; They had children; and so was all mankind made.'Two days later the girl wrote to Michelle Obama and asked the same question. Michelle Obama answered, 'Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved..'

The confused girl went to her father and said, 'Dad, how is it possible that Sarah Palin told me the human race was created by God, and Michelle Obama said they evolved from monkeys.'The father answered, 'Well, Dear, it is very simple, Sarah Palin told you about her ancestors and Michelle Obama told you about hers.'

According to "CREDO Mobile" - a lefty group I get emails from, AT&T gave about $386,000 to several conservative politicians. So, of course, all correct thinking people should switch over to CREDO's service, which is 100% behind redistributing your income to those who won't work.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Secretary of State Hitlary Clinton was just noted on the radio as wanting to assure revolutionaries overseas that President Osama will protect their ability to use the Internet to protest and pressure "democratic reforms" - including actively helping them evade any restrictions their governments attempt to apply.

Excluding, of course, friendly governments like China and Iran.

I wonder if she will push for the same protections for Americans if Osama gets his "Internet kill switch"...

Daily Kos has been running an ad on WJVL screaming that Representative Paul Ryan is going to destroy Wisconsin by removing the free health care all Americans are entitled to. Right. Show me where in the Constitution free universal health care is even hinted at.

I say public employees should be happy with the wages and benefits the People of Wisconsin are willing to give them, and that they should not be making veiled - and not so veiled - threats of violence and strikes against the people paying for said wages and bennies. If they feel they deserve more, they are free to seek productive employment in the private sector, where they can find plenty of union jobs.

There has been an ad running on Madison TV claiming Walker is "against the working class" - as if the public union's demands don't directly harm the people they want you to believe they care about.

Public employees should never have been allowed to unionize. President Reagan had it right when he fired all the striking air traffic controllers back when.

Some people - perhaps most - who choose public service are good people who do their jobs in a conscientious manner - but they chose the public sector, and that means they are going to be serving the public - not the other way around.

Governor Walker never said he wants to eliminate unions - he just said he wants to remove their power to threaten havoc in order to get their desires from the people of Wisconsin.

His decision to put the National Guard on alert is wise, considering the remarks some public union leaders made a few months back.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Much has been said about the UN's Agenda 21 and its' effects on our liberty. Here's a link to the ICLEI - the organization responsible for organizing it's implementation. You can see if your community has signed on yet - and do something to keep them out - or get them to quit if they already have.

HR 140, the Birthright Citizenship bill, that would codify the status of persons actually subject to the laws of the US, rather than the accident of being birthed here, is coming up for a vote.

Probably Osama would veto this, as it would remove a lot of his illegal electorate, but it's a statement that's needed.

Sent Tammy Gay this:

I want you to sponsor H.R. 140, the "Birthright Citizenship" bill. It is long past time for our country to start treating non-citizens the same way as our neighbor, Mexico, does, and as all other civilized countries on Earth do.

Also, federal employees, and any public employee, in general, should not be allowed to unionize and by extension, dictate how much tax money will be given to them for their labor. If the wage dictated by the people's representatives is not adequate, they are free to seek employment in the public sector, and even seek out a union job if they wish.

Conservative and 'tea party' Republicans join many Democrats to vote against renewal of the terrorist surveillance law, key provisions of which are to expire Feb. 28.

By Lisa Mascaro, Washington Bureau

February 9, 2011

Reporting from Washington —

The Republican-led House failed to pass an extension of expiring sections of the Patriot Act on Tuesday, an unexpected setback for GOP leaders that shows the difficulty they face in controlling their majority and its "tea party"-inspired members.

Time is short: Key provisions of the terrorist surveillance law expire at the end of the month. A coalition of veteran conservative Republicans and new GOP lawmakers joined many Democrats in blocking passage of the measure, which many tea party activists see as federal government overreaching into private affairs.

The bill required a two-thirds vote to pass but fell seven votes short. Now, the White House and congressional leaders must devise a new strategy, and fast, or the provisions will lapse Feb. 28. The administration wants to extend the Sept. 11-era provisions through 2013. The House bill would have extended them until Dec. 8.

My friend Terry and I had each finished off a bottle of beer. I looked around for a recycling bin while Terry just pitched his bottle in the trash.

Was Terry indifferent to the environment? Nah. He works at one of the biggest breweries in the U.S. and knows first-hand what happens to recycled glass. “We can’t use recycled glass for making bottles. It’s just too brittle. So glass put in recycling bins generally ends up in landfills anyway,” he explains.

Terry knows what he’s talking about. Canada’s National Post reports that all the glass collected last year by recycling programs in Calgary, Edmonton, and several other Canadian cities ended up landfilled because there were no buyers for it. The situation is similar for plastic. Reports are that Germany has millions of tons of recyclable plastics piled up in fields because nobody wants the stuff. And it is literally more expensive to collect some recyclables than to just pitch them. San Francisco’s Dept. of Waste figures it pays $4,000/ton to recycle plastic bags for which it receives $32/ton.

It seems to me that recycling that uses up more resources than it saves, or that wastes resources to collect "recyclables" only to either stockpile them or put them in the landfill anyway is about as anti-green as you can get...

WICHITA, Kansas - Gun enthusiasts left the Metcalf Gun Show with their hands filled with new weapons and ammunition Saturday.

"I'm kind of acollector,” said Sterling Gorges.“It's just a good time to get out and see what's all out there."

Nearby, protestors' hands were filled with signs arguing for more gun control, using the gun show to get their message out.

"We're not trying to take anybody's guns away, but we are trying to make the community safer,” said Michael Poage, the protest organizer.

About a dozen protestors stood on the sidewalk at Douglas Street, showing their signs to drivers passing by.

“I think it makes people stop and think about how serious this whole gun law loop hole thing is and how we need stricter gun laws in Kansas and in the United States,” said Janie Cook, a protestor.

The group of protestors is standing on four arguments in the gun control debate.

Among them,repealing the concealed carry law in Kansas, and restricting the sale of extended ammunition magazines.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++Same lame arguments - repeal a law that has not increased violence, but has prevented many crimes, pass another feel good law that the bad guys will ignore. Same old same old.

Not only is ethanol proving to be a dud as a fuel substitute but there is increasing evidence that it is destroying engines in large numbers

"Does the average citizen understand what this means? In from 10 to 20 years this country will be dependent entirely upon outside sources for a supply of liquid fuels … paying out vast sums yearly in order to obtain supplies of crude oil from Mexico, Russia, and Persia."—Yale Professor Harold Hibbert, ethanol promoter, 1925

More than one major transportation-based industry in America besides Detroit is on the ropes. For the fourth time in our history the ethanol industry has come undone and is quickly failing nationally. Of course it's one thing when Detroit collapsed with the economy; after all, that is a truly free-market enterprise and the economy hasn't been good. But the fact that the ethanol industry is going bankrupt, when the only reason we use this additive is a massive government mandate, is outrageous at best.

Then again, the ethanol lobby and refiners have a solution to ethanol's failure in America: Hire retired General Wesley Clark as your point man and lobby the government to increase the amount of ethanol in our fuel to 15%. The problems with that proposition are real—unlike ethanol's benefits.

The rolling blackouts now being implemented in Texas and across the country as record cold weather grips the United States are a direct consequence of the Obama administration's agenda to lay siege to the coal industry, launch a takeover of infrastructure under the contrived global warming scam, and help usher in the post-industrial collapse of America.

Planned power outages conducted by utility companies have caused outrage amongst officials at four major hospitals in Texas, at Parkland, Baylor, Methodist and Presbyterian Dallas.

"Because of the sensitive life-saving equipment, hospitals are considered "critical care facilities," and supposed to be exempt from rolling blackouts," reports CBS 11. "That's exactly what Presbyterian Dallas was led to believe. "We were of the understanding that hospitals and other critical-care providers were not supposed to be affected by planned outages," said hospital spokesman Stephen O'Brien."

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Thank you for contacting me about the health care reform law. It is good to hear from you.

As you know, in March 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. The measure marks an important step toward providing quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

We already have seen important benefits of the law go into effect. Insurance companies can no longer discriminate against children based on pre-existing medical conditions, young adults now can stay on their parents' insurance plans up to age 26, and seniors have received relief in their prescription drug costs.

Over the coming years, the law will providehealth insurance coverage to millions more Americans. It also will fill the Medicare prescription drug donut hole, offer tax credits to small businesses and individuals to purchase insurance, and prevent insurance companies from issuing caps on coverage or discriminating against any American based on pre-existing medical conditions, health status, or gender.

Unfortunately, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives made repealing this important law their first order of business -- rather than focusing on creating jobs. On January 19, 2011, the new majority voted to repeal the health care law over my strong opposition. Under the repeal plan, 147,000 young adults in Wisconsin would stand to lose their insurance coverage through their parents' health care plan; 46,000 Wisconsin seniors would face higher costs for prescription drugs; and, once again, people would be discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions.

On February 2, 2011, the Senate voted against repealing the health care law. It is possible that the Senate will continue to take votes to repeal the health care law. However, should the measure pass the Senate, President Obama has stated that he will veto it. Please know that I will continue to oppose attempts to weaken or repeal the health care reform law.

Again, thank you for sharing your views. Your opinion matters to me. If I can be of service to you in any other way, please do not hesitate to let me know. As a security precaution, all mail sent to Congress is first irradiated. This process causes significant delays. To ensure the fastest response, I encourage all constituents who have access to the internet to contact me through my website at http://tammybaldwin.house.gov.